Holiday Crafts

Valentine’s Day is upon us and whether you’re in a relationship or single, everyone loves a good wine night with girlfriends to celebrate (or hate on) this slightly controversial holiday. In my mind, the perfect Galentine’s Day celebration is getting together with my closest friends, ordering take out, baking (and devouring)these brown butter chocolate chip skillet cookies, sipping on a glass or two of rosé and watching a rom com.

I think it’s always fun to bring something small for each of your friends at a Galentine’s Day get-together and this adorable matchbox is the perfect little gift! It seriously screams Valentine’s Day and it’s special enough to be displayed on a coffee table in any home or apartment. It’s also perfect for this type of occasion because you can buy one for each of your friends without breaking the bank! Just show up to your Galentine’s Day celebration with these cute little matchboxes for each of your friends + a bottle of wine and you’re golden! PS – I made this Galentine’s Day gift guide last year in case your want some more gift ideas!

I love a good DIY and I honestly get giddy when it comes to anything involving cute handwriting and watercoloring. Since Easter is coming up, I thought it would be fun to write a post on adorable spring-y place cards for your holiday table. You can obviously make this craft for any occasion, but they will look extra cute and festive on any Easter table!

No matter how casual the occasion, I think it is always nice to have place cards. They really make your guests feel special and they’re a fun way to decorate a table too {plus, they’re the perfect solution for people like me who like to control who sits next to who 🙂 }.

To make these adorable place cards, you only need a few materials and they couldn’t be any easier to put together! I hand-wrote the names using a regular felt tip pen and my favorite font as a guide for my calligraphy-esque writing {I’ll do a separate post on how to write faux calligraphy that looks amazing!}. This watercolor technique is perfect with any type of font, through so feel free to really make it your own!

Decide which font you want to use as a model for your place cards and print out your guest's names typed out in that font as a guide.

On that piece of paper next to the printed names, use your felt tip pen to practice re-writing the names.

You can skip steps one and two if you want to write in your normal handwriting, but I recommend that you still practice writing each name before writing on the place cards.

Dip your paintbrush in the cup of water to get it wet and then coat it in the color of choice. Dab the paintbrush around to get a good amount of color on it.

To get the cute ombre-esque watercolor effect, make sure to initially put pressure on the paintbrush as you brush it on the place cards but release the pressure as you swipe. This will make it so that the left side of the brushstroke will be rich in color and the right of the brushstroke will be more muted and faded. If you are new to water coloring, I would suggest doing a few practice strokes so that you get the technique down before painting the place cards themselves.

Allow the watercolored place cards to dry completely, about 10 minutes.

Write your guest's names on each of the place cards and arrange on your table!

I am all about a store-bought valentine {especially when there’s candy involved}, but now that the elementary school days of exchanging valentines in class are over, I like giving homemade more “adult-ified” valentines to my friends.

This year, I went with something that was super easy and cute and the best news is that it didn’t break the bank!

This idea can be totally customizable depending on what type of candy you like, but hopefully this gives you some inspo.

Here are some other cute candy taglines you can include in your note if you don’t want to give Reese’s Pieces. The notes are catered toward friends, but you can obviously cater them to work for your sig other too!

Mints: We were mint to be friends

Almond Joy: It’s a joy being friends with you

Now and Later: I want to be your friend Now and Later

Milky Way: I’m the luckiest friend in the Milky Way

Extra Gum: You’re an extra special friend

You get the idea…

Here’s how to make these cute valentines!

Materials

Gift tags {I made my own using a cute heart-printed paper and a tag punch tool}

Black pen

Colored pen {pink or red for v-day!}

Mini Mason Jars

Reese’s Pieces candy {or your candy of choice}

Cute twine or ribbon

Hole punch {if your gift tags don’t already have a hole in them}

Directions

Write a cute note on your gift tags that relates to the candy you’re using. In this case, I wrote “I love you to pieces,” alluding to the Reese’s Pieces candy. Write the bulk of the message in the black ink and make sure the candy-related word is written with the colored pen {extra brownie points for also writing the word in a different font!}.

Fill each of your mason jars with the candy and tie your twine or ribbon around the lip of the jar.

Punch a hole in your gift tag, string the twine or ribbon through the hole, and tie to secure the tag.

I absolutely love the gesture of making gifts for the holidays rather than braving the Black Friday crowds. Don’t get me wrong, buying holiday gifts is never a bad idea, but if you find that you have some extra time on your hands and really want to make someone’s day, these candles are the cutest!

You don't need a candle making pitcher for this craft - you can also melt the wax in a glass bowl over a double boiler but just as a warning, you will be scrubbing candle wax from your bowl if you use one of your own. They're only $10 on Amazon and it is well worth it!

Ingredients

1 lb soy wax shavings

Candle making pitcher*

1 oz. candle scent of your choice

Old or cheap wooden spoon*

Votives or really any small vessel you can use to fill with candle wax {I got 6 copper votives}

8 Wicks

Pair of sharp scissors

Bells, cute twine, gift tags, etc.

Instructions

Pour the soy wax shavings into the candle making pitcher and place in a pot of simmering water with a cookie cutter in the bottom of the pot to elevate the pitcher so that it isn't making direct contact with the pot. Stir occasionally with the wooden spoon until fully melted and the temperature reaches 150 degrees F. Turn off the heat and pour in the scent of your choice. Stir until combined and allow wax to cools to 125 degree F.

Carefully fill the votives with the wax until about ¾ of the way full. Carefully lower the wick into the votive, making sure to adjust so that the wick is in center of the candle. Sandwich the wick between two of the wooden skewers and lay the skewers flat across the top of the votive. The skewers will ensure that the wick doesn't get misplaced in the votive as the candle is solidifying.

Allow the candles to set overnight, or for at least 6 hours. Once fully set, cut the wick to ¼ inch with your scissors and enjoy!

I like to wrap them in festive paper pouches with cute twine and festive holiday bells + pine!

*You don't need a candle making pitcher - you can also melt the wax in a glass bowl over a double boiler but just as a warning, you will be scrubbing candle wax from your bowl if you use one of your own. They're only $10 on Amazon and it is well worth it.

This year for Valentine’s Day, I definitely sought out the perfect gift for my boyfriend, but to be honest, I was just as excited (if not more) about how I was going to wrap the gift!

I was inspired by this adorable polka-dot wrapping paper that I found at Target (AKA my fav place). Here are the steps I followed to wrap the perfect gift:

I doubled-up some brown twine with red + white baker’s twine and tied a bow with it around the present. I loved how it gave the gift a rustic yet clean look.

I made the card using some festive red polka-dot scrapbook paper. I just cut out a rectangle of the scrapbook paper, folded it in half, wrote my little love note inside, and then punched the top left corner of it with a hole punch.

After tying my cute little bow with the twine, I strung the card through the hole and tied a knot to fasten it.

The finishing touch was writing Ryan’s name on the front of the card with a simple heart.

I think it looked pretty dang cute and I hope it inspires you to come up with some creative wrapping ideas of your own!